Homer fisherman cited for fishing closed waters in Bristol Bay

A Homer fisherman is due in court next month, cited for commercial fishing in closed waters in Bristol Bay's Egegik District.

Alaska Wildlife Troopers cited Dimitry Vasily Kuzmin, 49, on July 11 under the Bristol Bay Salmon Enforcement Program. He is scheduled for arraignment Aug. 7 in Naknek District Court. The charge is an accusation, and Kuzmin is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. The trooper dispatch gives no account from him and does not say how he allegedly fished in closed water.

Egegik's openings run in short, exact windows — that day, drift gillnetters had seven hours, from 8:30 p.m. to 3:30 a.m. — set by Fish and Game to hit escapement goals, the number of salmon that must reach the spawning grounds upriver. About 1.4 million had passed up the Egegik River by July 7, against a season harvest of 5.9 million.

Some fishermen say openings and closures announced close to the fishing period breed confusion and accidental violations. Regulators say strict enforcement is what makes the escapement goals reachable, and that fish taken in closed water don't reach the subsistence users upriver who depend on them. Kuzmin's citation was one of nearly a dozen in Bristol Bay over about two weeks, Alaska News previously reported.